Chapter Seven

Levi

M alakai and Lydia's place wasn't far. I followed them, unhappy to leave Sarah behind. My best friend had been firm, however, in insisting that only I was to accompany them.

Now, Lydia flew at my side, while Malakai led us onward. I restrained from glancing over at the sleek cobalt-scaled dragon. After all those years, I knew full well what she looked like in either form.

Thrusting those thoughts from my head, I followed my best friend since childhood down to the landing pad on the roof of his house. Unlike me, he lived on the outskirts and had his own place.

The instant I was standing on two legs, he was practically in my face, blue eyes flashing with lightning.

"Where have you been?" It wasn't a snarl. Not quite.

I met his eyes, tilting my head ever so downward to do so. "Back up," I said firmly, not appreciating the sudden aggressiveness.

"You disappeared after the last rally," Malakai growled. "We had no idea where you were. Now, you come back without telling me, and I find you with a human of all things?"

"I didn't disappear," I said. "The sovereign's guards picked me up before I could go to cover. Someone must have fingered me as one of the speakers because they tossed me in the dungeons right away. Like they knew it was me."

Malakai didn't seem entirely convinced. I fixed him with a long, unimpressed look. "You know me, Malakai. Don't give me this shit. I did what I had to do to get back here."

That wasn't strictly true, but I also wasn't about to betray our cause either, which was what he seemed to assume.

"How can I know for sure she hasn't turned you?"

I almost spat. "You think the sovereign got to me? Somehow made me side with her? Are you joking? Who else has been there since day one besides me? And Lydia, I suppose. Nobody, Malakai. Nobody. It was you and me who realized the sovereign has to go. That we can't continue to let her dilute our culture with this human nonsense. Me , Malakai."

I let some of my anger seep through, hoping he could see it in my eyes, knowing full well they were burning with brown-orange fury at being dragged from my home and accosted like I was some nobody, instead of his right-hand man.

"Where did you go?"

There was no acknowledgment of the rudeness of his accusation, no apology to his best friend. But that was Malakai. Always business. I couldn't expect him to change now.

"Messenger fucking duty."

Lydia stirred, leaning closer to Malakai now, resting one long, smooth, toned arm on his shoulder. She didn't speak. Just pressed herself closer. I gritted my teeth at the sight. Nothing she did was random.

"For whom?"

"Who do you think? The sovereign. The royal highness herself. She gave me an offer. Either I rot in her jail for an undetermined amount of time, or I go on a little mission for her. So, she packed me up and sent me off to meet with the human president. I got to walk right into the middle of them and risk my own hide to deliver the peace terms to them."

Malakai grunted. "That bitch. She wanted you to know just how expendable you were."

"My thoughts exactly," I gritted through clenched teeth, tearing my eye off Lydia's exposed leg as she flexed it, reminding myself those days were over. "Why send one of her own when she had someone like me to do it for her. She knew I hated her push to get closer to humans despite what they did to her son, kidnapping him like that."

"Vicek was weak if he let himself get caught," Malakai growled. "No dragon should be so meek."

"Rumor is he was wounded, unconscious when they came across him," Lydia put in.

"And who would have hurt him?" I asked, dispelling the myth yet again. "There's no way. No, he's just a fool who stumbled his way into their ‘care.' Shame he got back out."

The other two shared in my chuckle at the idea.

"I have one more question for you," Malakai said, the laughter evaporating instantly. "If you were just delivering the terms, why the fuck was there a human in your place when we got there?"

I'd been planning for the question and smiled wickedly in answer. "Spoils of war," I told him, voice dripping with evil intent.

Malakai stared, then threw his head back and laughed. "Very good. Even if you did help the sovereign out."

I shrugged, earning me a narrowing of his eyes.

"I've been thinking of that, actually," I explained. "And while I know it helps her, I'm starting to think it's going to help us, too."

Lydia and Malakai shared a look that suggested I'd lost it.

"Hear me out," I said, waving them down, urging calm. "With the war over, a lot of those who happen to see things our way will be coming home. War always creates a group of those jaded with current rule. I don't foresee this one being any different."

Malakai stroked the short hairs of his jet-black goatee thoughtfully. "You know, my old friend, you might have a point."

"I know I have a point," I said dryly. "Even if you don't like to admit it. But these people will be looking for a cause, Mal. We just have to make sure it's our cause. If we bring enough of them to our side, we'll have the numbers. Face it, we're never going to overthrow the sovereign with a dozen diehards and another twenty or so who listen to our rallies but won't do anything."

Lydia nodded, leaning closer to talk directly into Malakai's ear. She always did this when I was around, draping herself over him. Reminding me she was almost mine first. Teasing me.

"He's right. We need to start reaching out to them when they come home. Soon, Mal. The first wave will probably arrive in another day or two. We need to plan to get out there and reach out to them."

We all exchanged looks, thinking the same thing. I was the one who said it.

"The Summer Solstice Festival."

Three days from then, the city would be draped in colors to celebrate the coming of summer. A parade would work its way through many of the streets. Vendors would line the major streets.

And there would be people. All kinds of people, including many of those who were hurrying back to the Dragon Isles just in time for the festival. Like those who had so recently been at war.

"It's perfect."

Malakai looked at me. "This will be the biggest speech you've given yet, Lev. Make it count."

I grinned at him, the antsy tension in my gut about wanting to get home to Sarah now amplified by my new purpose.

We were going to do it!

"I should get to work on it."

Malakai glanced at Lydia, something passing between them. She uncoiled from his arm and glided across the rooftop to me.

"Make it good, Levi, okay?" she purred in my ear. I clenched. Her voice was … it was good. "We need you at that festival."

"You can count on me," I said, licking my lips, my dragon eager to take to the air. To return home.

"Good," she said, resting a hand on my forearm, her touch lifting all the hairs nearby. "We'll see you then."

I nodded a little jerkily.

"Go," she said, gesturing to the sky.

Moving swiftly, I took to the sky, eager to get home and get to work. That was it. I could feel it. We were going to finally do it.

Buoyed beyond the lift my wings could provide, I practically floated home, landing lightly on the fourth-floor roof of my condo and stepping breezily inside.

"Sarah!" I called out her name, face splitting apart at the thought of coming home to her for the first time.

The grin on my face died at the sight of Sarah waiting with tear-stained tracks running down her cheeks and a knife in both hands, held like someone who knew well how to use them.